Thursday, Apr. 21, 2011 - 7:19 a.m.

My mother-in-law, bless her heart...she's an extremely smart woman, with a memory for information and details like I could never dream of having. The phrase "mind like a steel trap" suggests itself. But she doesn't always get the humor of the younger, hipper set (as exemplified by J and I) (See, that was an example of the humor I'm talking about, right there). Irony tends to pass her by. Friendly mocking of others' mistakes, also a non-starter. When somebody makes a mistake, you either politely overlook it, or reflect sadly on how it undermines the credibility of their enterprise, but you don't mock it. (So civilized! She makes me feel like such a jerk.)

So anyway, I posted on FB about a call for entries I had gotten for a show in "Vienna, Italy". Solidly ridicule-worthy. First of all, it was through one of these online jury application services, so I get every single call they have in their system. Most of which have nothing to do with me. So, she doesn't know that, that's ok. But anyway, I got an excited email from her this morning with the subject line, "Italy?" asking where Vienna, Italy is, and suggesting maybe they should come with me to take care of Q while I'm there.

*sigh*

You might be inclined to think she was making a joke, but unless it was very subtle, I don't think so. And as I said, it just isn't her style.

�